Affective Reactions to the Thought of “God”: Moderating Effects of Image of God

Recent understanding of subjective well-being suggests that it consists of global judgments of life satisfaction, hedonic experiences, and beliefs about facets of one’s life. Traditionally, life satisfaction judgments have been the outcome of interest in studies examining the relationship between religiosity and well-being. Two studies were conducted to look at the interactive effects of personal religious beliefs, namely God images, and environmental stimuli, particularly priming the thought of “God.” The first study examines hedonic experiences, which is one of the information sources when constructing a well-being judgment. A second study attempts to replicate the findings with life satisfaction ratings. Results of the first study showed that one’s image of God as a controlling or non-controlling entity moderated the affective response to being primed to think about God. In particular, those who had a high controlling image of God had a negative affective reaction to the God prime. Results of the second study replicated the pattern of results using life satisfaction ratings as the dependent variable.     

Social networking site use: Linked to adolescents' social self‐concept,self‐esteem,and depressed mood

Adolescents spend a substantial amount of time using social networking sites (SNSs); however, little is known regarding whether such use is associated with indicators of adjustment. The present study employed a multidimensional measure of SNS use to investigate the link between Australian adolescent SNS use and indicators of adjustment. Youth (N = 1,819, 55% female) from 34 diverse high schools across Western Australia were surveyed. The results showed that frequency of SNS use was linked to higher social self‐concept while investment in SNSs was associated with lower self‐esteem and higher depressed mood. Furthermore, having an SNS was linked to more negative indicators for female adolescents compared with male adolescents, although the link between frequency of use and investment in SNSs to indicators of adjustment was not moderated by gender. The present study highlights the complexity of the relationship between adolescent SNS use and indicators of adjustment, and offers insight into the diverse types of adolescent use of SNSs.     

Effects of live exposure on symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder: the role of reduced behavioral avoidance in improvement

Although the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral treatment in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is well established, few studies examined its effects on individual PTSD symptoms and possible mechanisms of improvement in symptoms. In a previous randomized controlled study [Ba?og lu, M., Salciog lu, E., Livanou, M., Kalender, D., & Acar, G. (2005). Single-session behavioral treatment of earthquake-related posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized waitlist controlled trial. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 18, 1-11] a single session of behavioral treatment involving self-exposure instructions was highly effective in reducing earthquake-related PTSD. In the present study we examined the effects of treatment on each PTSD symptom and which symptoms improved early in treatment. Because the intervention focused solely on behavioral avoidance, we hypothesized that avoidance would be the first symptom to change and that reduction in avoidance would generalize to all other symptoms. The results showed significant between-groups treatment effect on only behavioral avoidance early in treatment (week 6). At 6 months post-treatment recovery rates ranged from 60% to 89% for 15 PTSD symptoms, including the numbing symptoms. Lack of improvement in avoidance was associated with lack of improvement in 12 symptoms. The critical process in recovery thus appeared to be increased sense of control associated with reduction in avoidance. These findings imply that live exposure to fear cues designed to enhance sense of control might be sufficient for recovery from PTSD.     

广西部分人群艾滋病相关知识态度调查

通过对广西部分人群在预防艾滋病知识和对艾滋病人态度方面的情况调查,了解我区开展艾滋病健康教育的现状,探讨完善我区艾滋病预防宣传教育体系的途径;我区部分人群预防艾滋病知识知晓率高低不够均衡;我区艾滋病预防宣传教育收效明显,但有待完善。     

I felt low and my purse feels light: depleting mood regulation attempts affect risk decision making

We propose that negative affect can induce people to engage in risky decisions. We test two alternative hypotheses as to how this effect may emerge. The mood repair hypothesis states that risky choices in risk decision making serve as a means to repair one's negative affect. The depletion hypothesis, in contrast, states that risky choices in risk decision making are the mere consequence of a state of depletion resulting from engagement in active mood regulation attempts. The results of a first laboratory study establish a link between risky choices in risk decision making and negative affect. Subsequent experiments provide evidence that depletion due to active mood regulation attempts, rather than mood repair, is the underlying process for this link. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Translating Evidence to Practice: Two Stories from the Field

Translating research evidence into daily practice is a challenging process at the organizational level. Conceptual models about this process point to the importance of resources for change and environmental influences as two key factors that need to be addressed in translation efforts. Two organizational case studies focused on improving care for adults with depression are described that illustrate lessons about translating evidence to practice that may be helpful to others.     

情绪状态对学生创造性的影响

研究了情绪状态对学生创造性影响的问题。被试为上海师范大学第三附属中学初二的学生 2 2 0名 ,其中男生 10 4人 ,女生 116人 ,年龄 13～ 14岁。由于国外已有研究的结果并不统一 ,研究的方法也缺乏生态化效度 ,因此本文试图通过教学现场实验 ,运用实际教学情境中的刺激来诱发学生愉快—难过情绪 ,以探索在教学情境中学生情绪状态对其创造性影响状况。研究结果表明 ,学生在愉快情绪状态下的创造性总体发挥水平显著高于难过情绪状态 (t=2 0 2 5 ,p =0 0 4 5 ) ,且主要体现在流畅性和变通性两个方面     

Emotion Regulation in Adulthood: Timing Is Everything

Emotions seem to come and go as they please. However, we actually hold considerable sway over our emotions: We influence which emotions we have and how we experience and express these emotions. The process model of emotion regulation described here suggests that how we regulate our emotions matters. Regulatory strategies that act early in the emotion-generative process should have quite different outcomes than strategies that act later. This review focuses on two widely used strategies for down-regulating emotion. The first, reappraisal, comes early in the emotion-generative process. It consists of changing how we think about a situation in order to decrease its emotional impact. The second, suppression, comes later in the emotion-generative process. It involves inhibiting the outward signs of emotion. Theory and research suggest that reappraisal is more effective than suppression. Reappraisal decreases the experience and behavioral expression of emotion, and has no impact on memory. By contrast, suppression decreases behavioral expression, but fails to decrease the experience of emotion, and actually impairs memory. Suppression also increases physiological responding in both the suppressors and their social partners.     

Reliability and validity of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List - Revised

A recent factor analysis of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL) changed the Anxiety, Depression, and Hostility scales from bipolar to unipolar scales and added two new scales: Positive Affect and Sensation Seeking. Internal reliability of the MAACL-R scales, computed for normal and patient samples, was adequate for state and trait forms except for Sensation Seeking. Test-retest reliability in college students was higher for the trait form with retest intervals of from 2 to 8 weeks than for the state form with retest intervals of from 2 to 5 days. The pattern of correlations among self-, peer, and counselor ratings and the MAACL-R scales for normal and patient samples indicates improved discriminant validity and equally good convergent validity as the old scales. The use of standard scores that are indexed to the number of items checked reduced scale intercorrelations by controlling the acquiescence set.The financial support of the Weldon Springs Endowment Fund, University of Missouri at Kansas City, toward the completion of this research project is gratefully acknowledged.     

Low-dose caffeine discrimination and self-reported mood effects in normal volunteers.

A caffeine versus placebo discrimination procedure was used to determine the lowest caffeine dose that could produce discrimination and self-reported mood effects in normal volunteers. During daily sessions under double-blind conditions, caffeine-abstinent subjects orally ingested a capsule containing 178 mg caffeine or placebo. Before beginning discrimination training, the compounds were identified to subjects by letter codes. Fifteen, 30, and 45 min after capsule ingestion, subjects guessed the capsule's letter code. Correct guesses at 45 min earned money. After each session, subjects received a supplementary capsule containing caffeine or placebo to ensure that, within each phase of the study, subjects received the same daily dose of caffeine equal to the training dose. Five of the 15 subjects acquired the caffeine versus placebo discrimination within the first 20 sessions (greater than or equal to 75% correct); 6 other subjects acquired the discrimination with additional training. Nine subjects who acquired the discrimination were subsequently trained at progressively lower caffeine doses. In general, the lowest dose to produce discrimination (greater than or equal to 75% correct) was also the lowest dose to produce self-reported mood effects: 4 subjects showed discrimination and self-reported mood effects at 100 mg caffeine, 2 at 56 mg, 1 at 32 mg, and 1 at 18 mg. One of these subjects also showed self-reported mood effects at 10 mg. The present study documents discriminative stimulus and self-reported mood effects of caffeine at doses below those previously shown to affect any behavior in normal volunteers.